Goat Cheese Cocotte with Apricot and Honey Miso Vinaigrettes

This is Ecology system cooking.

The dish was a creation of using fresh local goat cheese when I was in Bordeaux for Charles Michel’s Ecology of Food Master class. We brought back to our kitchen in tree house with the ingredients we retrieved from our neighbors, whether it was the artisan bread, the goat cheese and the oysters from couple miles away in the village.

In order to complement the goat cheese, I wished to create a flavor that was unique for showing my appreciation to the cheese maker. I found a particular herb in the garden which tasted very much like the wasabi from Japan. Therefore, I made two Asian style of vinaigrettes to accompany the cheese: one is a mixture of some natural fermented soy sauce with the apricot jam we made, another one is a mixture of honey and miso. I garnished the dish with some exceptionally fine seaweed shreds to enhance the wasabi/sashimi inspired sauces, and I sprinkled a little Espelette powder on the top to bring out a hint of spice taste in the palates.